USSO 236 - What is a Nation? Reinventing China for the Modern World

Institution:

Case Western Reserve University

Subject:

Description:

What makes a nation a nation? Is it a common history traceable to a primordial antiquity? Must a nation retain racial commonality? Does representative democracy mark "legitimate" nationhood? The history of modern China is used as a template against which we will ponder these questions: what is a nation, what is modernity, how did we come to assume certain characteristics of nationhood, and is there only one model for all the nations? We will study these issues by examining the views held by different Chinese figures on the meaning of China's modern nationhood: old and young, northerners and southerners, politicians and students, and people from the heartland of China to the peripheries. We will examine the tension between the nationalist rhetoric of unity and cohesion versus the political and military reality of disunity and fragmentation. This seminar will explore the interactions between notions of democracy and dictatorship, military and civil discourse, economic development, diplomacy and geo-politics, and political parties and ideologies and how they influenced and detracted from stated nationalist objectives. Prereq: Passing letter grade in a 100 level first year seminar in USFS, FSSO, FSCC, FSNA, FSSY or FSCS. Prereq or Coreq: FSTS 100.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.case.edu

Phone Number:

(216) 368-2000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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